823: Birthdate of Charles the Bald, who as Holy Roman Emperor refused to comply with anti-Semitic edicts of Amulo, the Archbishop of Lyon. In doing so, Charles was following in the footsteps of his grandfather Charlemagne who had also refused to comply with anti-Semitic edicts issued by Christian clerics.

1299: Pope Boniface VIII allowed Jews accused by the Inquisition the right to know who their accusers were.

1727: Moses Susman was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of Judicature for having stolen property from Moses Levy that included “silver money, bag, rings and some goods and chattles.”

1777: Marquis de Lafayette arrives to help the colonists in their War for Independence.

Lafayette

fell under the spell of

Washington

. He was instrumental in getting French support the Americans which was key to ultimate victory. The values of the American’s took root with

Lafayette

. Despite being an aristocrat he took part in the early days of the French Revolution. He voted in favor of a law that gave full rights to all French Jews except for those living in the northeast part of this country. Later, when commanding French forces near the city of

Metz

, he assured the Jews that they and their property would be protected. Unfortunately, not even the word of

Lafayette

could stop up against the Reign of Terror which was to follow.

1782(1stof Tammuz, 5542): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

1843: In Boston, a dinner was held at Faneuil Hall to celebrate the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument. Judah Touro was honored for his role in the building of the memorial. Bostonian patrician Amos Lawrence had pledged to give ten thousand dollars to the project if anybody would match his contribution. Touro, who was living in New Orleans, heard about the challenge and immediately sent ten thousand dollars to Boston. The toast read at the banquet said,

Amos and Judah venerated names,

Patriarch and prophet, press their equal claims

Like generous coursers, running neck and neck

Each aids the other by giving it a check,

Christian and Jew, they carr out one plan,

For thous of different faiths, each is in heart a man

1870: An article published today entitled “Prophetic Disraeli” reviewed “Lothair,” the first novel published by Benjamin Disraeli after he became Prime Minister and discusses the as yet untitled sequel that includes several Jewish characters and themes.

1877: Joseph Seligman, the famous New York financier arrived at the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga Springs, NY, as he had every summer for the past ten years. When he asked for his rooms the manager told Seligman that “he was required to inform him that” Judge Henry Hilton, the owner of the hotel, “has given instruction that no Israelites shall be permitted in future to stop at this hotel.” After overcoming his astonishment Mr. Seligman asked, “ Do you mean to tell me that you will not entertain Jewish people?” The manager replied, “That is our orders, Sir.” Seligman wanted to know the reason for this asking, “Are they dirty, do they misbehave themselves, or have they refused to pay their bills.” The manger replied that these were not the reason. “The reason is simply this.”Business at the hotel was not good last season and we have a large number of Jews here. Mr. Hilton came to the conclusion that Christians did not like their company, and for that reason shunned the hotel. He resolved to run the Union on a different principle this season and gave us instruction to admit no Jew.” The manager expressed his personal regret at this turn of events since Mr. Seligman had been coming there for years, but he had to obey orders. An angry Mr. Seligman returned to New York where he wrote a “bitter and sarcastic letter to Hilton” and then informed his friends as to what had happened. [Editors Note – the treatment of Mr. Seligman would touch off a minor cause célèbre. It would also mark the “official start” of a period of increasing anti-Semitism in the United States that would include the public banning of Jews from a variety of Christian only hotels, neighborhoods, country clubs and other such institutions as well as the banning of Jews from certain professions & occupations and the creation of quota system, the most invidious of which was the one having to do with admittance to institutions of higher learning. You might think of this period as an era of Jewish Jim Crow and would persist into the last decades of the 20th century.]

1878: Lucien Levy, who took his own life for reasons which are still not clear, is to be buried today at New York’s Salem Fields Cemetery with services provided by Mishkan Israel, the congregation to which the family belongs. Survivors include his widow, brother Henry and a sister, Mrs. Henry Block, all of New York City.

1878: At a summit of European powers (Berlin Congress) discussing the Balkan region, civil rights were "guaranteed" for Rumanian Jews. The populace and the government soon ignored this order.

1880: It was reported today that there are approximately 500,000 Jews living in Morocco most of whom are descendants of Jews who were exiled from Europe during the Middle Ages. They “are oppressed, hated degraded and persecuted” in Morocco in a fashion worse “than in any other country.” The Jews work in “various arts and trades” displaying “the ingenuity, pliability and tenacity of their race.”

1881: In the Pale of Settlement Esther and Israel Pinchus Antin gave birth to Maryashe Antin who gained fame American author and immigration rights activist Mary Antin.

1882: Joseph Wolf and Meyer Morris, two recent Jewish refugees who have just arrived from Russia remained in jail because they could not pay the fine assessed them for having attacked and beaten an official of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society.

1884: Birthdate of Sophie Tucker. Born Sonia Kalish, she was known as "the last of the red hot mammas."

1885(30thof Sivan, 5645): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

1885: In New York a bill was signed “to amend the Penal Code in regard to Jews and the observance of Sunday.

1886: The remains of James K. Gutheim who was the rabbi at Temple Sinai, lay in state at the New Orleans Reform congregation until three o’clock this afternoon when they were taken to the Metairie Cemetery in suburban New Orleans for final internment.

1888: It was reported that the staff of the Hebrew Journal plans to sponsor a reception to raise funds for the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Agency.

1889: New York State Senator Jacob A. Cantor is invited to the opening reception of the exclusive Harlem Club. When a member learns that Robert Bonyge has proposed Cantor for membership, he publicly tells Cantor, “Jake I have known you for a long time, and I am a friend of yours, but I must stell yout that in this club we draw the line at Hebrews.”

1891(7thof Sivan, 5651): Second Day of Shavuot

1891: Archibald H. Welch, a Second Vice President with New York Life Insurance Company publicly revised the company’s previous versions surrounding their former employee Julio Merzbacher. Contrary to the first reports, Merzbacher, a 58 year old Jewish immigrant from Austria, had not retired but had left the company after reports of major financial irregularities. Contrary to previous reports, these losses did not total $325,000 but probably exceeded one million dollars.

1892: “Among The Russian Jews” published today provides a summary of the findings of Arnold White who had gone to Russia “to determine whether the Russian Jew was an agriculturist” or whether he had had ever been successful in that role. White’s report, which first appeared in the Contemporary Review went far beyond this and examined the conditions and character of Russian Jewry. For those who wonder about the bravery of Jews, White answers the question “Will the Jew fight” as follows. “If bull-dog courage be the test of manliness then the annals of the prize ring tells of brawny and burly with their fists, three quarters of a century ago in England held their own. Three Russian generals have described the dauntless courage of Hebrew soldiers at the Shipka Pass. In one instance a call for twenty-tive men to engage in a forlorn hope was answered by thirteen Jewish soldiers.(Editor’s note – The Schipka Pass is pass in the Balkans in modern day Bulgaria. In the 19th century it was the site of five fierce battles during the war between the Russians and the Ottomans. )

1893: “Russian Coercive Measures” published today the comments of Colonel John Weber, the former Superintendent of Immigration on condition of Russian and Polish Jews. New decrees “directed toward Russian Jews” include ones that will force merchants who have been in business for the last twenty years to move into the Pale. At the same time “doctors of medicine, lawyers, engineers, architects, artists, and graduates of the university…exactly the classes representing the highest” intellect are also being forced to move into the overcrowded Jewish zone. As to rumors of a mass exodus by Jews living in Poland, Weber said, “The Polish Jews would be dull indeed if they did not take expulsion of their coreligionists in Russia to hear.”

1893(29TH of Sivan, 5653): Kiva Book, Annie Katzman and Joseph Mendelsohn died when they jumped to their deaths from the burning building on Montgomery Street where they were working in various tailor’s shops. Among the injured were Israel Amberg, Meyers Mymans, Morris Nathanson, Alice Nathanson and Morris Siegel.

1893:In New York, Deputy Coroner Conway performed an autopsy an unidentified Jewish man who was found floating in the river with his hands tied together with a piece of twine.

1893: “Commissioner Senner’s Story” published today described Immigration Commissioner Joseph H. Senner’s response to an expose published in the American Israelite that claims he “is masquerading under an assumed name” and that he deserted his wife in Germany. The commissioner said this is the fourth time these charges have been made and he has been exonerated each time. He admits to Americanizing his name when he came to this country and insists that his wife who came with him still lives with him in New York. He feels that his decision “to renounce his Jewish faith” is what caused Rabbi Wise to publish these falsehoods in his newspaper.

1894(9th of Sivan, 5654): Fifty five year old Moses Levy, a native of Alsace-Lorraine who came to the United States 25 years ago passed away. The owner of a successful flour and feed business in Brooklyn, he was a member of Temple Beth Elohim and a supporter of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.

1894: At the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum, the band and drum corps under the command of Colonel Martin Cohen entertained visiting officials from the New York State Constitutional Convention

1897: The annual confirmation exercises of the Hebrew Free Schools were held at the Hebrew Institute this afternoon.

1897: “The Zionist Movement” published today described the two meetings held by the New York Board of Jewish Ministers to prepare for the Zionist meeting which will be held next August in Munich. According to them, the Zionist movement has two main objectives. “Frist to rescue the unfortunate Hebrews who are suffering under denial of civil and social rights and to encourage them to leave their poverty and misery for agriculture in Palestine and secondly to foster” the idea of “Jewish nationality.”

1898: Emile Zola published his open letter (J'accuse) in defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus in Paris. This was part of the famous Dreyfus Affair that rocked French society for the better part of a decade at the turn of the last century and that gave rise to the Zionism of Theodore Herzl.

1898: The Yukon Territory is formed, with Dawson chosen as its capital. In 1902, when Dawson’s Jewish population reached its high point of 200, Solomon Packer was one of its leading merchants.

1898: It was reported today that Nanette M Beekman received a gold medal for general excellence, Eva Heyman received a gold medal for excellence in Hebrew and Florence Robison received a silver medal for best in Hebrew at the Rodloph Sholom Religious School closing exercises.

1899: Wilson W. Dunlop came before Mayor Van Wyck on charges of having caused riots on the East Side by his efforts to convert Jews to Christianity with his preaching on the corners of Orchard and Rivington Streets. The Mayor told Dunlop, “you have been using the streets for a crusade against the Jewish religion. This is a free country and you can make a fight against any religion you choose, but you can’t do it in the streets. If you want to conduct a crusade against the Jews go and hire a hall.”

1899: “The Jewish Colonial Trust” published today described the involvement of the Jews of Chicago in this Zionist venture. So far, Jews in Chicago have subscribed for two thousand shares in the Trust at a par value of five dollars. The Union National Bank of Chicago represents the Jewish Colonial Trust in the United States.

1904(30thof Sivan, 5664): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

1912:Orville and Katherine Wright arrived at the home of Arthur L. Welsh's in-laws, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Harmel two days after his fatal accident.

1912: Funeral services were held for Arthur L. Welsh at Adas Israel in Washington D.C. Joseph Gulshak, the congregation’s cantor delivered the eulogy as the congregants looked at his tallit draped casket. His pallbearers included Orville Wright, one of the famous Wright Brothers, and Lt. Henry H. Arnold. Arnold would gain as “Hap” Arnold the five star general who led the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. “Arnold wrote in his autobiography years later about Arthur Welsh, ‘He taught me everything I know, but he knew much more.’”

1912: Portuguese government continues to favor a plan which is reported to be prepared to give Jews extensive concessions.

1917: Birthdate of Israel Kugler, a leader of teachers’ and Jewish labor organizations. Born in Brooklyn, to Eastern European immigrant parent, he served in the Navy during World War II and was educated at City College and at New York University. In addition to his work as an organizer, he was a professor of social science in the CUNY system and author of the book “From Ladies to Women: The Organized Struggle for Women’s Rights in the Reconstruction Era.”Kugler’s parents were involved in the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring, which is the national Jewish labor organization, and Kugler’s own children were sent to Workmen’s Circle shules (part-time Yiddish schools). After he retired from teaching and organizing in 1980, Kugler was elected president of the Workmen’s Circle. He held the office for two terms, until 1984. Kugler was also active in other progressive Jewish organizations, serving as an officer of the Jewish Labor Committee and of the Forward Association, the not-for-profit holding company of this newspaper. Philip Kugler followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers. He passed away in October of 2007 at the age of 90.

1917: Fourteen German bombers attacked London dropping more than one hundred bombs killing over 162 civilians. Some of the bombs landed on school where fifteen students were killed and another 27 maimed for life prompting some parents to send their children out the British capital. Among those sent out were Lev Winogradsky, the future media mogul who became Lord Grade and his brother Boruch Winogradsky, the famed theatrical impresario who became Lord Delfont

1918: Fire in a synagogue results in the total destruction of the famous Hebrew library in Belgrade. The collection contained many rare manuscripts.

1918: During WW I, Lester Bergman a Private serving with the 5th Regiment of the U.S. Marine Corps which was part of the AEF, attacked a German machine gun nest in fighting in the Bois de Belleau. This conspicuous bravery would lead to him being award the Silver Star.

1920: The Ahdut Ha'Avoda Party convenes in Kinneret. It decides to establish the Haganah organization for a countrywide Jewish self-defense.

1920: Birthdate of Joseph Gurwich, who as Joseph Gurwin, became a wealthy businessman and philanthropist. Unfortunately, he was also a victim of the great swindler, Bernard Maddoff

1921(7thof Sivan, 5682): Second Day of Shavuot

1924: Bnei Brak founded on the coastal plain east of Tel Aviv. The Bnei Brak of today was established by charedi Jews from Poland, and is famed for its many yeshivas and Chassidic communities. Judah Moses Tiehberg, the grandson of the Aleksandrow Rebbe who was murdered at Treblinka re-established the dynasty at Bnei Brak in 1953. In Biblical times Bnei Brak was located in the land of the tribe of Dan. Its most lasting fame comes from the story in the Haggadah about Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues.

1925: In Manhattan Louis and Ralphina Steinhardt Lowenstein gave birth to Louis Lowenstein, founding partner of Kramer Levin and “an influential business law professor and former corporate executive who for nearly three decades dissected the excesses of Wall Street and warned of the dangers of short-term investing” (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)

1926(1stof Tammuz, 5686): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

1926: It was reported today that Rabbi Max Drob, President of the Rabbinical Assembly of JTS will be one of the speakers to address the upcoming annual convention of the Rabbinical Assembly of the Jewish Theological Seminary

1925:Birthdate of Louis Lowenstein, an influential business law professor and former corporate executive who for nearly three decades dissected the excesses of Wall Street and warned of the dangers of short-term investing

1929: Western hero Wyatt Earp passed away. Earp was not Jewish, but his last wife was. She arranged for him to be buried in a Jewish cemetery.

1931: Shortstop Louis Brower made his major league debut with the Detroit Tigers.

1931: Birthdate of Dr. Irvin David Yalom Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University and recipient of the American Psychiatric Association’s Oscar Pfister Prize (for important contributions to religion and psychiatry) in 2000.

1933: In Berne, anti-Semitic pamphlets were distributed at meeting of the "Bund Nationalsozialistischer Eidgenossen" (BNSE) which was addressed by Emil Sonderegger, a former leading general in the Swiss Army.

1934(30th of Sivan, 5694): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

1934: Hitler and Mussolini met for the first time.

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue9911/icon04.htm

1935: James J. Braddock defeated Max Baer to become heavyweight champion of the world. Baer had only been Heavy Weight Champion for a year. There was always a question as to whether or not Baer was really Jewish. He had been born in

Nebraska

and there were those who claimed his father had been Dutch or German and not Jewish. Regardless, Baer adopted a Jewish persona in the ring and won the hearts of the Jewish world when he defeated the German boxer Max Schmeling.

1936: According to an article published in the New York Times, “a factor in the current Palestine disorders that is little known to the general public is a long-standing political feud between the two leading Arab families, for which the Jews happen to be convenient scapegoats.” Much of the violence stems from a conflict between the Husseini family, which has filled the posts of Grand Mufti and President of the Supreme Council, and the more moderate Nashashibis who are led by the former Mayor of Jerusalem.

1938: Birthdate of Morton H. Halperin “an American expert on foreign policy and civil liberties. He served in the Johnson, Nixon and Clinton administrations and in a number of roles with think tanks, universities and other organizations such as the Council on Foreign Relations and Harvard University.”

1939: Five Arab villagers were slain early today in Baled Es-Sheikh, near Haifa. An armed gang, dressed in European clothes, dragged the five men from their homes and shot them. A sixth villager was reported to have been abducted. The Arabs claimed that the attackers were Jews.

1939: In what appears to be an outbreak of inter-Jewish strife between Revisionists and Laborites, “seventy persons carrying clubs studded with nails” attacked the Revisionists headquarters in Tel Aviv injuring one severely and five slightly.”

1939: “Eddie Cantor and his wife are guest of the 18,000 members of the Greater New York Chapter of Hadassah at a luncheon in the Café Tl Aviv in the Jewish Palestine Pavillion at the World’s Fair” at the same time that they are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary.

1940: Walter Benjamin and his sister fled Paris and sought refuge in Lourdes before the Gestapo could arrest him.

1941: Birthdate of Esther Ofarim, a sabra who became a popular Israeli entertainer and singer.

1941: The Petain Government, also known as the Vichy Government, ingratiates itself with the Nazis by announcing that 12,000 Jews have been sent to concentration camps for hindering Franco-German cooperation.

1942: Nine Jews were hanged inWarta, 2 in Lask, and 2 in Lodz Ghetto as a tool to scare Jews from resisting deportation.

1942: Three thousand Jews are deported from the Theresienstadt,

Czechoslovakia

, camp/ghetto to their deaths.

1942: British Ambassador to the Vatican Francis d'Arcy Osborne observes about Pope Pius XII that his "moral leadership is not assured by the unapplied recital of the Commandments." British comments must be taken with a grain of salt. After all, they were the ones who had written the White Paper locking the Jews out of the only place that would accept them.

1943:Mark Rothko, together with Adolph Gottlieb and Barnet Newman published the following brief manifesto in the New York Times:

"1. To us art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take the risks.

"2. This world of imagination is fancy-free and violently opposed to common sense.

"3. It is our function as artists to make the spectator see the world our way not his way.

"4. We favor the simple expression of the complex thought. We are for the large shape because it has the impact of the unequivocal. We wish to reassert the picture plane. We are for flat forms because they destroy illusion and reveal truth.

"5. It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted."

[Rothko said "this is the essence of academicism".]

"There is no such thing as a good painting about nothing.

"We assert that the subject is crucial and only that subject matter is valid which is tragic and timeless. That is why we profess spiritual kinship with primitive and archaic art."

1945: Weizmann decried Churchill’s letter rejecting the request for an end to restrictions on Jewish immigration into Palestine as an insult to our intelligence. A bitter Weizmann declared, “If Churchill had wanted to settle things, he would have done so.” “For Ben-Gurion, Churchill’s letter was ‘the greatest blow they (the Zionists) had received.’

1948: Shear Yashuv Cohen, the future chief rabbi of Haifa arrived at a Jordanian prison camp after having fought in the failed defense of the Old City of Jerusalem.

1948:

Rumania

and

Finland

recognize

Israel

1949: Birthdate of Brandon Tartikoff television executive withABCand NBC. He was involved in the creation of such groundbreaking hits as “The Cosby Show” and “Hill Street Blues.” He passed away in 1997.

1950: “An air transport agreement granting equal rights in Israel and the United States for airlines designated y the two governments was signed in Teel Aviv today by Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett and United States Ambassador James G. McDonald. This is the first air agreement between Israel and a foreign country and the first agreement with the United States on any subject.”

1950: An airplane bearing Jordanian markings which belonged to Arab Airways was forced to land after it attempted to fly over the southern Negev. The pilot, who was an American, cooperated with the intercepting Israeli aircraft and the landing took place without incident. The Israelis have made repeated requests to the international community to avoid such over-flights due to the state of war that still exists in the region.

1950: Eddie Cantor completed his day of touring immigrant camps by having lunch at the immigrant transit camp at Natahnya. While the Jewish entertainer who has raised millions for Jewish causes since the 1930 ate, he was eyed with great interest and curiosity by the six hundred orphans living at the camp.

1951: The Jerusalem Postreported that

Israel

vigorously protested against the decision made by Lieut.-Gen. William Riley, UN Chief of Staff, who supported the Egyptian arguments against the opening of theSuez Canalto Israeli shipping. Migdal Gad, a new immigrant town of 10,000, held its first municipal elections. There were 1,950 eligible voters. No ice for home supply was distributed in

Haifa

after the authorities discovered that many distributors used false weights to cheat their customers.

1951: Nine Jewish Kremlin physicians were "exposed" as British/US agents. This became known as the Doctors' Plot. It was part of Stalin’s last push to get rid of the Jews of theSoviet Union. Only his death averted what could have been a worse mass murder than the Holocaust.

1953(30thof Sivan, 5713): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

1954: Cornerstone laid for Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AECOM).

1954: The New York Times features a review of “The Spark and the Exodus,” in which Benedict and Nancy Freedman “have tried to recreate one of the tragic periods of Jewish history: the Czarist oppression, the pogroms that fired the Zionist dream of establishing a home land in Palestine.”

1959(7thof Sivan, 5719): Second Day of Shavuot

1965(13th of Sivan, 5725): Philosopher, author and intellectual Martin Buber passes away. There is no way to do write just a few words about Buber. His impact was too great in too many spheres. The best way to honor his memory is to take try and read a little bit of Buber. Whether it is something as complicated as I and Thou or as relatively simple as a collection of Chasidic tales, there is something for all of us.

1966: Birthdate of mathematician Grigori Perelman. True confession – I do not have a clue as to what his work is all about but the experts say the Russian born genius is best known for his work in comparison geometry. He has also published papers purporting to prove Thurston's Geometrization Conjecture and Poincare’s Conjecture. So far, nobody has found the flaw in his work

1966: Birthdate of Ben Horowitz, the native of London who was raised in the United States where he became a “high tech entrepreneur and investor.”

1970: Sixteen people led by Sylva Zalmanson and Eduard Kuznetzov “attempted to hijack a plane from the USSR…in an desperate attempt” to make the world aware of the plight of Russian Jews who wanted to move to Israel

1972(1stof Tammuz, 5732): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

1973: General Benjamin “Benny” Peled, the head of the Israeli Air Force, told Defense Minister Moshe Dayan that in the event of another war with the Arabs, a pre-emptive air strike would be critical to Israeli success. Dayan assured him that if the government thought that the Arabs were about to attack, the air force would be given the same operational latitude that it had in 1967. [Editor’s note: One wonders if Dayan remembered this conversation in October of 1973 at the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War.]

1974: A

Gallup

poll on religious worship showed that fewer Protestants and Roman Catholics were attending weekly services than ten years earlier, but that attendance at Jewish worship services had increased over the same period.

1976: The Jerusalem Postreported that the former Air Force chief Mordechai Hod was granted a draft agreement allowing him to set up a separate air-freight company in

Israel

. In

New York

an estimated 75,000 marchers paraded up

Fifth Avenue

in the 12th annual Salute to

Israel

. Over 400 cars a month were reported stolen in Tel Aviv every month. In 1975 20,566 cars were stolen in

Israel

, an increase of 23 per cent over 1974. Gary Davis, who declared himself to be the "First Citizen of the World," was turned away by the

Ben-Gurion

Airport

police.

1978: The IDF withdraws from

Lebanon

after entering the country to root out PLO terrorists operating from this safe haven.

1986 (6th of Sivan, 5746): First Day of Shavuot

1986 (6th of Sivan, 5746): Musical great Benny Goodman passed away. The clarinet was his instrument of choice. In the Big Band Era, he was known as "The King of Swing." He gave jazz, or at least his style of it, a certain touch of panache when he played Carnegie Hall, which in those days was the High Temple of High Culture.

1988: Birthdate of Gabe Carimi, the offensive tackle for the Chicago Bears who played his college football at Wisconsin where he won the Outland Trophy in 2010. Carimi’s nickname is “the Bear Jew.”

1991: The New York Review of Books featured a review of Wartime Lies, the first novel by Louis Begley.

1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “The Nanny and the Iceberg” by Ariel Dorfman and “Between Memory and Desire: The Middle East in a Troubled Age” by R. Stephen Humphreys.

1999: Bruce Fleisher won the BellSouth Senior Classic at Opryland.

2002: Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, saw landmarks of the revived Jewish quarter in the Kazimierz district

2004: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback edition Heart,You Bully, You Punk by Leah Hager Cohen

2004: The world takes note of what would have been Anne Frank’s 75thbirthday.

2005(6th of Sivan, 5765): Composer David Leo Diamond passed away.

2005(6th of Sivan, 5765): First Day of Shavuot. Showing an uncanny knack for revitalization, this previously neglected festival has gained new life in the opening decade of the 21stcentury in

America

. Ice cream bars and pizza (kosher of course) are now mainstays of the dairy menu and all night study sessions have increasingly become normative in many cities.

2006: On his first ever visit to

China

, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of

Israel

called on the government to recognize Judaism as it has several other religions. Official recognition would be beneficial to the Jews living in

China

. For example, official recognition could lead to the Jews of Shanghai being able to use its former synagogue which is currently used as a government building

2006: The New York Times reported that an international team of archaeologists has recorded radiocarbon dates that they say show the tribes of

Edom

may have indeed come together in a cohesive society as early as the 12th century B.C., certainly by the 10th. The evidence was found in the ruins of a large copper-processing center and fortress at Khirbat en-Nahas, in the lowlands of what was

Edom

and is now part of

Jordan

. Dr. Levy, an archaeologist at the University of California, San Diego, said the research had yielded not only the first high-precision dates in the region, but also such telling artifacts as scarabs, ceramics, metal arrowheads, hammers, grinding stones and slag heaps. Radiocarbon analysis of charred wood, grain and fruit in several sediment layers revealed two major phases of copper processing, first in the 12th and 11th centuries, later in the 10th and 9th. The findings, Dr. Levy and Dr. Najjar added, lend credence to biblical accounts of the rivalry between

Edom

and the Israelites in what was then known as

Judah

. By extension, they said, this supported the tradition that

Judah

itself had by the time of David and Solomon, in the early 10th century, emerged as a kingdom with ambition and the means of fighting off the Edomites. In the context, Dr. Levy and Dr. Najjar wrote, "the biblical references to the Edomites, especially their conflicts with David and subsequent Judahite kings, garner a new plausibility."

2007: The History Channel International presents two showings of “Great Spy Stories: Mossad.” ”Born in the crucible of

Israel

's war of independence and honed in the struggle for survival against hostile neighbors, the intelligence service gained a reputation for ruthlessness. Whether tracking down WWII war criminals like Adolf Eichmann or eliminating terrorists like Black September, the Mossad allowed nothing to stand in its way.”